Teaching women of all ages and from every walk of life, how to be in tune with their menstrual cycles and how to use this knowledge to either prevent or facilitate pregnancy. Read, learn, feel empowered!

Sunday, 30 August 2015

What happens to your body when you come off hormonal contraception?

Perhaps you have been thinking for a while
now that you would like to go natural, reconnect with your cycle and come off hormonal contraception.

You may be nervous and this is
understandable. What will this mean for my body? What will I do for
contraception? How can I do this without getting back my old symptoms?

It is always important to listen to your
body. Most women intuitively feel when it’s the right time for them. Maybe they
are experiencing side effects, maybe they are thinking about their
future fertility, or maybe they just don’t feel right about taking the synthetic hormones anymore.

What ever your reasons, with the help of
your doctor and a fertility awareness instructor like myself you can safely and
smoothly come off hormonal contraception and integrate into healthy baby-free cycles with
Naturally Not Pregnant’s fertility awareness programs.

What
happens to my body when I come off hormonal contraception?

When you are taking hormonal contraception you are taking
high levels of hormones that are very similar to the ones your body makes
itself, they are just synthetic. Because your brain recognizes that you have
high levels of hormones circulating though your system it tells your ovaries
not to bother making any more.

If you are taking a pill that is 21 days on
and 7 days off (sugar pills), then from the moment you start taking the sugar
pills your brain realizes that your hormone levels are dropping and this begins
the shedding of the uterus lining.

Remember this is not a true period because
you have not ovulated, the pill will have prevented this; rather it is called a
“withdrawal bleed”. This process is the body’s natural response to a drop in
hormones and it is how a real period is triggered in a true cycle also.

After
coming off the pill you will have your usual withdrawal bleed.

Then, after 7 or so days your body may do
one of two things:

Realise that you are no longer taking
synthetic hormones and start making its own again.

Not realise that you are no longer taking
any synthetic hormones, and be too sleepy and lazy to begin making its own
again!

In the first scenario, you may find that your body quickly gets its groove back and your
period (a real period!) comes roughly 28 days later.

This is great news and always the more
favourable outcome after coming off hormonal contraception!It means that your brain and your
ovaries remember their true purpose and you are healthy and fertile.

This is not always the case however, and
often, after many years of synthetic hormone use the body will take some time
to recover.Like a conductor leading a symphony, the brain must orchestrate the
release of many key hormones and neurotransmitters in order for the menstrual
cycle to flow correctly.

After coming off the pill many women will
have a combination of hormone deficiencies and/or excesses; this is what causes cycle irregularities.

If this is the case, you may find that your
period takes 6-8 weeks to return and when it does it is irregular for months. During
this time however it is not uncommon to notice some hormonal signs that your
body is trying to figure things out.

In the second scenario, an essential process in the healthy functioning of the menstrual
cycle has stopped working.

Your hypothalamus, sleepy after being dormant
for so long while on the pill, forgets that it should be giving out regular
pulses of a hormone called gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH). GnRH’s job
is to stimulate the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and
luteinizing hormone (LH), which in turn stimulate oestrogen and progesterone to
be released from your ovaries.

Sometimes it takes time for your hypothalamus
to wake up; up to 12 months in not unusual. Certain
herbs, acupuncture and a little bit of patience can be very helpful in this instance.

Coming up in a couple weeks time we will be covering what you can do to ensure your body is recovering after the burdens of hormonal contraception.